I currently have an outdoor faucet that comes through the foundation right at ground level. It’s a pain in the back to bend over, dig it out of the mulch and turn on/off.
I also need to plumb for landscape irrigation and am thinking of replumbing the faucet bib as well, raising it up a foot or so. I live near Washington DC, and it freezes here a couple of times a year.
So, I’m thinking: put a shutoff valve inside the basement and close it in the winter, put a 1-2′ galvanized riser through the existing hole and a regular ol’ faucet bib at the top. The shutoff valve would control supply to both the faucet and the new irrigation valves.
What’s bad with this idea, or do you have any suggestions to improve it? Any problems connecting copper supply to the galvanized pipe?
Replies
Just need to have a way to get the water out of the exterior piping after you shut it off inside. If you shut it off and leave it full the ice will still crack the pipe but you won't experience the leak until you turn the water on in the spring, better but still not ideal.
We had a client leave a hose on a frost proof hose bib over winter here in NC, Daylight basement on a slab with carpeted bedroom and big laundry room with 8" of dirty laundry on the floor. They went out first warm Saturday of spring and bought a truck full of landscaping plants and spent the entire afternoon outside with the whole family planting and watering in the new plants and having a great family work day. Came in exhausted at the end of the day to discover an inch of water covering the slab, ruined carpet, soggy laundry... My cell phone went off... There it was, first paragraph in my homeowners manual "Please remember to remove your garden hose from the hose bib in freezing weather..." Not ideal...
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"You cannot work hard enough to make up for a sloppy estimate."
You'll want a di-electric coupling going from copper to galv. Second if your two foot rise(vertical) is outside you'll need some way to drain it for winter, possibly a drain valve just inside the foundation. this way you wont have a pipe full of water outside to freeze.
Use something like this:
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=213720-34146-T200W&lpage=none
...with the drain facing the hose bib. When you shut it off for the winter, open the drain and the hose bib, disconnect the hose and your done.
I tend to oversimplify, but would this work?
http://www.absolutehome.com/web/catalog/product_detail.aspx?pid=253789&cm_ven=PriceGrabber&cm_cat=Tools&cm_pla=Liberty+Garden+Products&cm_ite=Liberty+Garden+Products-Outdoor+Tools-253789&cid=1BCF12D5FBE4E36EBB6725531E48326D
you would still have to hook it up in the spring and witerize in the fall
I wonder if BossHog is eyeing this http://www.absolutehome.com/web/catalog/product_detail.aspx?pid=78342TFB (Bill)
Providing your grades work out you could also incorporate the needed back flow device using your current set up, properly mount the riser and hose bib then pipe into your zone box for your irrigation. Everything would be going on all in the same area.
How's this for a set-up? I think it includes the things you guys are talking about (other than the walking sprinkler, haha).PVC for exterior or galvanized? Seems like if I incorporate the interior ballcock-drain, galvanized isn't as necessary. But PVC looks kinda cheap, doesn't it?
Not seeing the full set up, 3/4 after a 1/2 feed is not going to work very well. I didn't see a back flow protection device. At the very least a simple vacuum breaker type back flow providing you get above your highest head. The goal is not to poison the family when drinking tap water.
I don't know what kind of "irrgation" system that you are going to install.But make a flow test before doing the layout. Often equires 3/4 or large as close to the meter/tap as you can get..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Ken,
.....remove existing bib install 90 elbow, extend 1/2" copper to desired height, attach new bib. Install ball valve type stop-and-waste inside at convenient location (i.e. easy to reach for draining w/room for a bucket...rather than draining onto floor) make sure line is pitched back toward shutoff so no water is left in pipe outside building line.
When you drain lines.....shutoff supply, place bucket under bleeder, open bleeder and bib, allow to drain, then close bib and replace bleeder cap.
Use 3/4" to supply "irrigation" system, install separate shut-off for this line and include means to "blow-out" lines (on exterior) at end of season to prevent freeze damage to in-ground lines. You also may need anti-backflow device on this line.
no need for galvy pipe anywhere.
Geoff
Geoff,Thanks for the very clear description. I thought that copper outside would be more susceptible to the normal dings and bumps that come with outdoor wear and tear than galvy. I guess you're thinking that I'd protect it somehow, maybe attach to or encase in a wood post?And for the irrigation manifold, in other houses, I put 3/4" PVC with automatic shutoff valves and anti-siphon valves in other houses. I was thinking about the same for this.Connect the 3/4" PVC to the 1/2" copper supply with a valve in the basement? Someone else mentioned that the supply line should be 3/4"...
Connect the 3/4" PVC to the 1/2" copper supply with a valve in the basement?
No, I assume you have a 3/4" supply feeding into the baement where you could connect the irrigation system to.
Geoff
To add to what Bill said, you need to first find out how many gallons per minute you are currently getting out of the existing faucet. Connect a short large diameter hose, and use a 5 gallon bucket and a watch with a second hand to time the filling of the 5 gallon bucket. Depending on what kind of irrigation system you want, 4 or 5 gallons a minute is barely adequate, where as 8 to 10 is more ideal. Often irrigation systems are connected before the whole house pressure reducer. And, as others said, don't forget the RPZ or backflow device.